Follow the Leader? That depends on who the leader is!

Probing Proverbs 8:20-21 I walk in righteousness, in paths of justice. Those who love me inherit wealth. I will fill their treasuries.

Here is where we see how important it is to follow Wisdom. The path that wisdom walks is the path that we should desire if we truly know God. Every child of God wants to live a life of righteousness and justice. This is the path that Wisdom will take us on. Living a life that is righteous and just is often a very difficult thing to do. Our flesh prefers the easy route, which also many times is the most pleasurable route. To do what is right and to live an honest life requires discipline of the spirit, and a complete yielding (surrender) of our flesh to the Holy Spirit. Consider why: there are times when our flesh will make us ask ourselves “is living this way really worth it?” We should not think we are wrong when we feel this way. The psalmist expressed the same sentiments in Psalm 73:

Psalm 73:12–14 Look at these wicked people— enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply. Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason? I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain.

He notices the evil live with ease and no suffering while he has endured much because he chooses to live a righteous life. If we do not allow these feelings to surface we will fail to allow the Holy Spirit to walk us through these emotions and to teach us the truth of the reality. In Psalm 1 we see some very important truth that sheds light on the reason of “why” we should choose to live in a righteous way:

Psalm 1:1-3 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.

Notice the path that is being described here, it's the opposite of the path that wisdom will take us down. The world's wisdom will follow the advice of people that are separated from God. Today, half of our world listens to the advice of people that are famous for being famous. For the most part they are self-absorbed, think constantly of how they look, talk a lot about how evil the rich are, yet they have so much money they cannot spend it fast enough. They pickup pet projects to endorse, believing what others have told them, not investigating or seeking the truth. They do some commercials, invest a little time and effort to their cause, then they move back into their life, which consist of having any thing they want and going anywhere they desire because they have the money to do it. This path also takes firm positions that contradict the Word of God and on this path a person will find himself or herself joining in with the rest of the world. It is amazing to witness individuals that surrender their common sense and become part of the mob mentality because it happens to be “in vogue” or popular at that moment.

The person that is walking on that narrow path, which is called righteousness, finds his or her delight in God's Word. This person measures…not judges…everything by the Word of God. What benefit is that? Notice; a tree planted along a riverbank, when your roots go down right to the source of nutrition, the circumstances around you and outside of you cannot rob you of your strength. Whether it's rainy or drought condition, your roots are tapped into the nutrition source, so you keep your health and you continue to bear fruit. Also, the leaves never whether; this individual is involved in things that will last forever. Yes, he or she lives in this world and deals with many temporal things, still, their approach is from an eternal perspective. Lastly, this person prospers in all that they do. This does not mean have “success” the way the world thinks of it. 

True prosperity has to do with pleasing our Creator and sensing within ourselves a purpose and a destiny to our life. So this means it doesn't really matter “what” we do, instead, because of the “way” we approach our life we have that calm (peace) and joy that can only come from an eternal God into our own heart.

One very important thing we need to remember, if we are living righteous and are proud about it, then we have failed to really live righteous. Humility is the partner of righteousness. We can be content that our lives are representing God, however we should never fool ourselves into thinking that we have arrived. The longer I know Jesus Christ, the more I realize what a sinner I am!